. Follow our journey to China as we add one more blessing to our family!

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Saturday, November 12, 2011

Guangzhou - Day 1 (Catchy Title, Right!!!)

We are loving our stay in Guangzhou so far! Today we had beautiful weather with sunshine and a high in the low 80s. It's was so pleasant! The atmosphere is also very differnt here. In Chengdu we got many stares from the chinese people becuase it was strange for them to see 2 gringos with a Chinese baby. After awhile, it just started to feel uncomfortable with the stares. Also, some of the Chinese women would talk to Hannah and I always wondered what they were asking her and if it was helpful or harmful to our bonding process. 2 ladies even picked her up and held her when she was walking. I know that is very unhelpful for the bonding process and i didnt like it one bit. Here we are one of many adoptive familes and we blend in nicely. It just feels more comfortavle and it is nice to have other families in similar situations around to chat with. The number of familes with there new kis at breakast was very cool! It is neat to see so many kids going from orphan to choosen children! I really really like it here!

Today we had Hannah's required medical exam and it went ok. She had 3 stations to visit, height and weight check, ENT, and the physical exam. She cried during her exams and reached for me to hold her when she had to lay down. It was sad to see her get so upset. For those of you wondering, we weighed her after we got her in Chengdu and she was right at 20 pounds. She is a petite little thing, that's for sure.

After the exam, we came back to the hotel. We ventured out for lunch at Tekilas (no I did not misspell that) - a Mexican food restaurant we had heard good things about. For being in China , it really was pretty good food. Hannah liked it too, so she will fit in fine in San Antonio!

After lunch it was nap time for Hannah and school time for the boys. Chris represented our family at the required document check session that Elvin was having. We think Elvin is absolutely wonderful and he loves being a part of adoptions. When we first met him he kindly thanked us for coming all the way to china to give a child the love of a forever family. I wasn't expecting it and it was such a nice thing to say! Seriously though, we are the ones that are getting the best blessing. Anyway, all this to say that our Guangzhou guide, Elvin, is fabulous and we are super thankful for him.

After nap time we took a taxi to Shamain Island for dinner and shopping. The US consulate used to be located on Shamain Island so all adoptive familes needed to come here. The island caters to adoptive families. Now the us consulate has moved of the island and soon the medical exam (currently the last consulate required appt left on the island) will move off the island too. It's kind of sad because the island is beautiful and a lovely respite for families in the home stretch of this trip. The island looks more like Savannah Georgia with its large beautiful trees and architecture, than like China. We got to the island as it was getting dark, so we didn't get many pictures. We hope to go back, so I'll take some pictures then.

While we were on the island we went by the White Swan hotel. It is famous for being the host to many many adoptive familes over the years. Currently it is not renting out it's rooms as the hotel does a massive renovation. The lobby and shops are still open though. We were able to get some pics of Hannah on the infamous red couches. It's a tradition (and you know us Aggies love a tradition) to take a picture of your adopted child on the red couches at the White Swan hotel. We were unprepared on this trip, but hope to make it back with Hannah in more appropriate attire (a taditional Chinese silk dress). In the meantime, these pics of her are pretty cute!

Hannah had a good day. She still gets upset a few times a day, but overall she is very happy. She is hitting and pinching less - definitely good! She seems to find comfort in sucking on the pendent to my necklace. She did that for the first time yesterday in the airport and did it more today. If that calms her down, that is fine with me. My necklace is only on a 16 inch chain, so this doesn't give me much slack. If this continues, I'll need to switch to a longer chain when we get home. I told her "I love you" in Chinese and she says it back to me. It is very very sweet!!! Each day she seems to feel more comfortable with us than the day before. Also, she seems to want our praise and affection more each day. She is a brave little soul to be able to begin to trust us. I'm so so proud of her bravery! Wait toL you meet her, she is all kinds of special!!!

Hannah's love affair with Chris continues. She is a very smart girl and knows she scored big in the daddy department. Chinese people often tell us how beautiful she is. When we were in Chengdu, Tina told us that in China she is a very beautiful baby. She said she knew we thought she was beautiful, but that her features were very lovely and that in China she is regarded as very beautiful. We would have to agree! She is very smart too! She has mastered her stacking cups and is very proud to show off her tall tower and then she enjoys knocking it over for you!

Tomorrow we don't have any adoption apts, just touring and shopping. It should be a fun day. We miss our Hailey like crazy!!! My heart aches for her precious smile and the feel of her in my arms. I want to cherish these days in China with Hannah, but I long for our Hailey. Knowing she is in great hands helps tremendously! Thank you, mom! You are the best!!!!

2 comments:

My gosh! Until I saw that picture of the two boys with Hannah I never realized how alike they are. If I didn't know for a fact that Chase was 8 and Travis was 6 I would think that they were twins. I think I am going to start introducing them as my twin grandsons. ;{) (that is a mustache in the happy face)